We partied ALL weekend!!!!

PHEEEW! I am so glad that this weekend is over! While parties are super fun and
I absolutley LOve to do them, they are for sure exhausting,...getting reading, having the party, and then cleaning up the party. And when it is times 2 well nuff siad. This weekend was a lot of fun! Saturday morning we had a baby shower for my sister in law Jessica. It turned out great! we had brunch and hung out with friends and neighbors and just had alot of girl talk and baby mushing!



this is a diaper cake that jessicas sister kristen made. It was so cute!


This is yapings daughter gwenevier. What a cutie! she was playing with the dog in this pic!









I gave jessica a photo shoot for her present and got the pictures blown up. They really are adorable. You'll have to go to my photo site to see those.



And then it was brodey boys birthday party! We had all of our family over, He was center of attention all night! We had awsome food. I made little idividual pizzas and a chicken salad. My favorite was the pesto with tomatoe and mozzerela pizza, they were so pretty I should have taken a picture...but I was busy cooking and they got eaten way to fast. I found this cute little birthday boy hat at babies-r-us. and his shirt says I am 1!!!

o.k so after the baby shower on Saturday the kids had soccer games, then we went to the grogery store and then I stayed up until 2:00 a.m. making this cake for Brodey!
Sometimes I am totally crazy! but I wanted a 2 tier cake and did not want to pay $50 for it. So I worked my magic, and I think I did a pretty good job!


oh my goodness brodey loved his cake. It took him a long time to get this dirty!
We had to keep showing him that he could get into it. He just kept taking little swipes of frosting with his finger. he is such a sober serous child. you can just see his brain thinking! He did love it though. Most of all I think he loved that 20 people were standing around and cheering him on! He loved the attention more than the cake!




So thats it for a wild party animalish weekend where I cooked and cleaned and shopped and took pictures for 3 days straight! It was totally worth all the memories. I am now off to edit some photo shoots pay some bills and pack, because we are going to Utah on Thursday for Coreys mission reunion.
See ya when we get home!!!!!!

Happy Birthday Brodey!!

Has it been a whole year already? This year has gone by so fast. They made me move my baby from the baby room to the toddler room this week and today is his first birthday! Brodey has been such a joy to add to our family. His eyes and that smile....mmmm they just melt my heart. Here is a little slideshow of a few pics from birth to one year. there is an arrow on bottom right you have to click on to see all the pages.

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Brodey, happy birthday big boy... all about you as a one year old.

*you are walking! very good. you topple over a lot, but you walk everywhere...crawling is for babies!
*you can go down the stairs by yourself! much to my dismay and a few tumbles, but you keep at it!
*you can say, Hi, Halli, mom, dad, num num, ah oh, peek a boo, oh, no, whats that,
and you mimnick words all the time, but don't say them by yourself just yet. you have always been a talker and you deffinatley let yourself be heard.
*you hate all green food...no green veggies for you. but you love sweet potatoes, carrots, squash, anything that is yellow or orange. I would have to say you are for sure a picky eater, I would say mostly meat and potatoes for you. you love crunchy stuff like apples and crackers and chips.
*you love to sing to the beetles. and your abc's
*balls are your favorite toy. you can throw balls all day. you and max actually play fetch it is really cute. my favorite is when you are walking and bend over, pick up a huge ball, throw and say, OH!
*when we ask you how old you are, you can hold up your finger...I'm one!
*you love your binky for bed, but do not like it during the day.
*4 teeth on top and 4 teeth on bottom!
*stopped nursing at 10 months by your own choice.
*you wave and say Hi to everybody we come across when we are out in public, and I get stopped all the time so people can look and talk to you...thats cause your just so cute!
*I still don't know what color your eyes are! they are brown and green and blue!!??
we will have to wait that one out.
*you HATE mom and dads bed. you will not even get on it when we are not sleeping.
I don't know why...but I guess it's a good thing. you have to sleep in your own bed, you rarely fall asleep anywhere else.
*you love to play peek a boo! and do it every time we have a diaper change.
*you army crawled all the way till you were almost walking.
*your a daddys boy. I wish I could say you were a mommas boy, but you and dad have always had a special connection, even before you were born. And you will pick him over me most of the time.
*your favorite books are, the animal book, little feet like, and barney is so big.
*Halli and ethan are your best buds, they play with you all the time and you always just hang out with them. I love it when you guys crawl around on the living room carpet and rub your heads on the ground. it is wierd, but cute!
*you are so much like me...you have this firey little personality and get frustrated and mad easily, it;s so funny to watch you throw little fits and throw your bottle!
I love that your colorong is dark like mine. people tell me all the time how much you look like me.
*you give kisses and hugs
*LOve to take baths! love to swim and be in the water. from the very first time we put you in the pool, you could sit in a floaty all day and be happy!
I think you gonna be a little dare devil. you have no fear!

Me and daddy are just so happy you came to our home and blessed us with your amazing spirit. we can not imagine life without you in it. This has been such a fun year.
I can't wait for all the rest to come. we love you sweet boy!

Wlcome to the world Michael!!!!

MY SIL had her baby on tues. 9/16 His name is michael Ross Vanleuven and he is such a Doll. Jess had a c section, everything went great. Michael was only 6 lbs somthing (I didn't get exact stats...yet) that is 3 lbs less than Tyler. He seems so tiny. Jess & chad we are so happy for you guys. We love you.

warning..theres a lot of pics!

breaking my heart

I usually do not get too involved, or voice my opinion too much. Lately though I have had a heavy heart, feeling like the world is just crashing around me. From a horrible Oprah I saw Mon. to the stock market crash and the hullabaloo with the presidetial race, and prop 8 here in California. Well lets just say that I feel like taking my little family into the wilderness and living off of the land with no t.v., o.k.! lets face it. not a mountain woman, so what do I do? well for one I encourage EVERYONE to get out there and VOTE. It is one of the things we can do for our nation and ourselves that sets us apart, and we should use that right. Also get the facts about the things that are trying to be passed, and read up on who you are voting for and what they have voted for in the past. Obama is an eloquent speaker, but he is a wolf in sheeps clothing, and if we want to take God out of our country, than he is your man. this video is a little dramatic, but that is because what is hapening is dramatic, and if you don't vote for Obama for any other reason than this...well that is enough for me. If these women want "rights" to choose, well they should have "chose" better in the first place. This just makes my heart sick. please don't vote for him! I also posted a vidoe of some of his voting recored. just click on the links below.

please click here to watch this video

Video of Obama voting record HERE

Brodey is Walking.....

Brodey is 11 months old and getting so big. I just had to post some pics before he turns 1! This is him eating his first chocolate doughnut the other day! he loved it. He had chocolate from head to toe.


Can you beleive he is WALKING! oh my goodness, he is starting to get so brave and walk far. he is so proud of himself. obviously having his mouth wide open and arms high in the air help him balance better. I think he looks like king kong walking through new york. Oh it just makes me giddy inside every time he does it!










Our dog Max is Brodeys little shadow. He follows him around everywhere and licks his face all the time. I have to actually shoo him away and now Brodey is starting to get mad and push him away. Max doesn't even care, he just rolls over and begs for more!

After a two year visit to the United States, Michelangelo's David is returning to Italy . . .



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His Proud Sponsors were:







I think this is what happened to me! take away the man parts and you've got me before kids....and after kids. mostly sponsored by mcdonalds...and buttered popcorn!

today Ethan said. . . .

We were on the way to school and I was giving the kids money for lunch. Ethan has never done this before so I was giving him instructions.

ME: "Ethan, make sure that when it is lunch time you take this money out of your backpack and give it to the lunch lady, or you wont be able to have lunch."

ETHAN: "No, mom, I don't need that. I will just punch in my magic number and I get free lunch"

Me: "Honey, you only get free lunch with that number because mommy gives the lunch lady money"

Then he gets out of the car still looking at me like he doesn't really beleive me.
I guess we'll see if he actuall gets to eat today.

I wish my debit card was magic!!!!! LOL!

First day of school

Both of my oldest are in school all day! They were both so excited. Mostly to get back to see their friends. They looked so cute in their new shoes and outfits.





My sweet Halli... when we went to look at her who her teacher was she said,,"please not Mrs. Bass"...and she got Mrs. Bass. And none of her good friends are in her class, well except the part bully part friend who causes a lot of drama! I told her that she is always going to have hard times in her life and teachers she does not like, but they are all experiences and to make the best of it. So far So good! And she has realized It's not as bad as she thought is was going to be.
This was the first year that her hair was not done PERFECT. well because don't you know that she is so grown up! Just look at those bangs. I had to get them cut because she always wants that hair in her face over to the side, i and would pull it down when it was long so she ended up looking like violet from the incredibles all the time. She has a cow lick and her hair does not like to stay over to the side so it always looks messy that way! and One of my biggest pet peeves is kids with messy hair. I have ALWAYS done her hair...but now I am limited to hair bands, half up and pony tails, but not cute ones with frillies and stuff. And half the time she comes home with the pony tail pulled out and hair everywhere. I guess maybe she is rebelling... I don't know. She just cracks me up at how big she is getting. I try to go with the flow and not cause drama, anyway it is only hair.....





Ethan is a big 1st grader, In school all day. I was a little worried, but he seems to be following instruction, making friends, and actually doing his work! Maybe it's just the sound of MY voice he tunes out! He got an awsome teacher who is super nice. So far Recess, and math are his favorite things to do, Oh and "mostly chasing girls around the playground" (he said as he raises his eybrows a few times and smiles)